2 expressions that need to go

The other day, I heard 2 expressions over a short period time on some TV show. I’m not even sure what show it was, but it was drivelrous, if you will. I wasn’t really paying attention to the show as I was evaluating stats to make a few fantasy football moves. Anyway, the female character, who labeled herself eccentric (just as most eccentric people do) was adorned with lots of beads and loud jewelry and bright colored clothes, which was just about right, used both the expression “in my heart of hearts” and the expression “in my mind’s eye”. I have decided to ban these expressions – if you hear someone use one of these expressions, it is officially within your new legal right to levy a $20 fine against these people and collect it immediately.

16 Responses to “2 expressions that need to go”

sorry, i had to. but really, from my typing finger of fingers, i concur. i’ve heard of a world, in my foot’s ear, where people really think about the colloquial phrases and cliches they use. i think that world is about 600 years old though, and there aren’t any football commentators living in it.

Yes Aaron. My personal favorite meaningless sentance add-on is “not for nothing”. Best used when you are about to insult someone or something: “not for nothing, but your apt smells” . . . that might be a northeast thing, though . . . I’m just sayin . . .

i also am …. well, sometimes annoyed by, but pretty amazed at the power of phrases like ‘i’m just sayin’ — while overused, things like ‘dude’ (the king) and ‘ya know’ … are linguistically so much more than the sum of their parts.

dude – can be used to affirm (friend hands you a pabst on a bad day – “dude” with an attempt at a thankful smile) or refute ideas or actions (friend drinks all your pabst while you’re taking a dump, leaving only warm zima). it’s a name, it calls attention to flying objects, it questions someone’s health/sanity (when used as a question when friend brings warm zima to your party), etc. etc. etc.

i’m just sayin’ – there are rhetorical questions, this is like the rhetorical statement. you can leave out half of your argument/statement about something, and by using this phrase, imply that the guy who brought the zima can understand the rest – you dignify his intelligence and affirm that people make mistakes, and you don’t need to spell everything out to him. “dude, zima? i’m just sayin.” = “my friend, i see you’ve brought zima to my party. we both know that the only acceptable uses for such a drink are 1. drinking covertly out of sprite bottles while in class in highschool and 2. for consumption by women who otherwise wouldn’t drink at our party. currently, we are neither in highschool calculus, nor are we in the company of such females. it is, therefore, inappropriate for you to have brought this drink to my home. please go to the store, and pick up some pabst, or some maker’s mark, and you could also get some more italian sausages, as we are running low, and it’s almost kickoff time.” you can save so much time with this phrase, it’s almost scary.

i was going to try and figure out some more, but well i’m at work and… ya know?

There are more untrustworthy, useless phrases—“let me be honest with you”-what, nothing you said previously was truthful?
“In my mind’s eye” means nothing. I agree. “In my heart of hearts” has minimal value–it is the speaker’s way of putting an exclamation point behind his sincere belief that …. whatever. Writing of “whatever” another word like the use of some swear words by some speakers that fill space and corroborate the listener’s impression that the speaker is mentally lazy and inarticulate. I think Packergeeks should compile its own list of useless words and phrases, ban them and send them to sportcasters everywhere.
Good topic Andy.

that’s frustrating. i put large blank spaces where the ‘swear words’ were lazily being used to fill space, and some autocorrect feature did away with them. so much for formatted jokes. that’s what i get for falling to a new depth of nerd-dom, i suppose.